The other day I was at an exercise class in a park. One if the trees was helpfully labelled Lagunaria patersonia (pyramid tree). It turns out to be native (to Australia, though not to this part of it). So… I decided to take a sample and test its dye properties.

I am here to report to you, dear reader, that this is not one of the stellar dye plants of our time. That smudge on the right of the linen square with the questionable machine embroidery is the best I can show for a leaf print after an hour and with teh presence of iron and soy mordant. The only fibre on my swatch showing any colour after an hour of simmering is wool + alum, a delicate shade of yellow-green.

On the other hand, I made these cushion covers from leaf-printed cotton and linen. They are for friends who invited us to a holiday house they share near Mittagong. I hope they’ll accept these as thanks for the lovely relaxing time we had with them.

They are custom fit to the cushions on the verandah of their holiday house, whose covers have seen better days.

6 responses to “Hits and misses”

Hi Mazzaus, I love your blog. I, too am a fibre person (website megviney.com) and do leaf prints, but with leaves and ink onto calico and handmade felt. The cushions are gorgeous. How did you achieve those prints, may I ask? regards, Meg

Hi Meg, welcome and thanks for your comment! I am mordanting with sea water and soy milk, leaf printing using India Flint’s eco-print concept and drawing on the wisdom in her book, and using iron in my dye bath.

Wow, I spoilt the surprise by checking out your blog but we will most certainly accept these very beautiful covers and they will live inside for sure so as not to succumb to the weather too soon. T’was a pleasure to have you visit, happy exercising and dyeing.